Homemade Baked Beans

I realised that I have been away from the house quite a bit lately; for work and leisure or a bit of both, spending a bit of time North Westward has been good to me. Then my sister came to visit, we haven’t seen each other in a year and a half and spending a bit of time with her, her partner and my nephews was refreshing and made me concentrate on other things. We visited the area, Fore and the Cairns of Loughcrew, Dublin for a bite and a bit of shopping, the Natural History for the boys or a day trip to Sligo, Mullaghmore and Glencar. They left on the Friday, and when my birthday came the following Tuesday, I felt a great sense of emptiness – not necessarily unpleasant- rather a time to reflect on the things in life that matters; nature and nurture… I needed to treat myself; I had soaked some beans the night before, stuck “Siouxie & the Banshees” in the CD player, opened a bottle of wine and started cooking…

Glencar Lake

First you need to soak a couple of handfuls of Haricot Beans or Butter Beans, over night is better so they can soak up the moisture…

Soak the beans over night…

Place the beans in a Terracotta oven dish and start working on the tomato sauce…

beans in a terracotta oven dish

For the sauce You Will Need:

75cl of Passata ( sieved tomatoes)

20 ml of Apple Cider Vinegar

10 ml of Soya Sauce

Two cloves of garlic finely chopped

1 tbsp of honey

a pinch of sea salt

a pinch Cayenne pepper

Herbes de Provence or fresh thyme

A dash of olive oil

Mix all the ingredients in a bowl, no need to heat it up ( but you can if you prefer), stir well and pour over the beans in the oven dish…

Covered with sauce

Cover with a lid, and cook in the oven at 175 c for two hours or until soft. Every 30 minutes, lift the lid and top up with a bit of water so they don’t burn and give them a little stir…

Messy business… Moments of truth…

Et voilá…

Beans are ready

For the buckwheat pan cake, use 100 g of buckwheat flour, and a bit of milk and water; stir the batter well and add a pinch of salt. In a hot flat pan with olive oil, pour over, spread and flip after two minutes. Fold in a triangle when done. For the asparagus, bring some salted water to the boil, snap the spears at their natural breaking point, and boil for 6 minutes. As it was my birthday, and I was feeling all fancy and all, I attached them with a blanched sprig of scallion. For the poached eggs, I recommend you put each of the egg in a little bowl. Bring some water to simmering point, but not boiling! I put a wee splash of cider vinegar, a gentle swirl in the water with a spoon and poach the egg for about 2 minutes; I keep an eye on them, using a tbsp to hold the white together, gentle, gentle… Until you are ready to serve, place the eggs in a bowl of cold water. I sprinkled the lot with black pepper, sea salt and a bit of olive oil, a sliver of Parmigiano Reggiano on top.

Yay, happy birthday! Nice that you had some family members over. I love the idea of the buckwheat pancake to accompany the dish, it’s rather healthy and way easier to digest than a piece of bread I’m sure.

I love and cook with butter beans and the others so often but I’ve yet to cook it in the oven. This one sounds perfect and easyish. I’ll definitely be trying this. Thank you for writing this recipe and taking time to reflect and nurture. It’s what keeps us going. Belated Happy Birthday 🎉

Thank you Mira. The only thing, is that it is a bit time consuming so you’ll have to be a bit more patient. I guess like a “cassoulet”. But it leaves the door open to plenty of cool recipes: I’ll be waiting Mira! 🙂 😉

When asked (as I frequently am) what I miss about living in Britain I site only two things … decent tea (strong, dash of milk and burning hot) and baked beans. Baked Beans are my one enduring love. I even called my dog The Bean – actually she was originally BB which stood for Baked Bean. I am a woman obsessed. This therefore is a must make for me …. and make them I will in honour of your birthday passed and because I can never have too many baked beans. Ever. Never. Truly.